Surgery operation is often accompanied by pathological inspection. It is normally carried out using optical measure. However, it needs several hours to several days in order to stain the specimen. Ultrasonic observation does not need such a long time for sample preparation. We develop an ultrasonic microscope that can observe and characterize biological tissues without staining process. Time for observation will be reduced into a few minutes including sample preparation, which will significantly save time for surgery operation. The R&D is carried out as a collaborative work with industry and institute of medicine. We have proposed the "acoustic impedance microscope" that can quantitatively observe the cross section of a tissue without introducing any contamination to the tissue. It can observe live cultured cells as well with a spatial resolution of a few micrometers. In addition to medical and biological application, food and plastic material industries are being targeted.

Keywords: Ultrasonic microscope, tissue characterization, acoustic impedance.

Electric facilities should be replaced after using a long time, before they make failure that may lead to serious accident. However too early replacement may lead to cost up. We are developing techniques to detect degradation and abnormal condition by measuring small signals from such as transmission line and power generator. As an example, we are developing a technique for locating the degraded point in a power transmission cable. The "water tree degradation", which is a significant mode of degradation of underground transmission cable can be detected by transmitting a sharp high voltage pulse and measuring its response. We proved that 5 meters of degraded part inserted in 400 meters of sound cable could be located.

Keywords: Electric power facility, diagnosis, degradation, fault location.